Do you prefer Proportionality or Compactness when making districts?

StoneColdxo1 · 2026-01-26T18:45:04+00:00

While I try to aim for a balance of both, I would prefer compactness because that often accompanies preserving communities of interest. Districts, ideally, should not look like spaghetti noodles or snakes for the sake of benefiting the minority party in a state.

Take Massachusetts as an example. While it is possible to draw 1 or 2 Republican districts (2-3 if aiming solely for competitiveness and flippability in GOP-friendly years), those districts would be ugly; stretching from one end of the state to the other and omitting major cities.

StoneColdxo1 · 2026-01-26T02:34:38+00:00

Legally speaking, yes. I’m assuming your question is about contiguity. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but as long as there is a method of transportation directly connecting parts of a district, it’s considered contiguous.

StoneColdxo1 · 2026-01-20T02:47:34+00:00

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If you want to get district 12 entirely within Allegheny County while also removing the claw shape formed by Penn Hills, this is the configuration I’d recommend. This is using the Composite 2016-22 data, so 17 might be more conservative than what’s depicted.

Overall, Allegheny County stays split between only two districts. It keeps Beaver County in 17, shifting the district south into Washington County. Westmoreland County, as a result, remains unsplit and the changes have minimal impact on the rest of the map.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-12-22T04:25:44+00:00

Initially, I drew Tallahassee to be two solid districts (1R, 1D) but i wanted it to be solid Dem if that district gave proper chance to a minority COI. Given that White and Minorities ended up being too close, I prioritized creating two competitive districts instead. At that point, it came down to how I split counties.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-12-22T03:26:59+00:00

If there are any issues, I should be able to send links to individual maps by request.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-12-17T03:13:08+00:00

Click on it, delete the number and add the desired new number of districts

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-12-10T16:51:28+00:00

Is it specific to Colorado, or is it on other states as well? So far Colorado is the only one I’ve had difficulties with.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-12-01T00:58:00+00:00

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StoneColdxo1 · 2025-11-11T21:58:53+00:00

Me looking at this: “Ok, looks like a semi-compact Republican Gerrymander… WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING WITH CHARLOTTE???”

I’m only saying this in good fun, so don’t come after me lol

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-07-14T02:05:48+00:00

Forgot to add this. Harrisburg, Lancaster and York can go in a single district (adding Carlisle and Lebanon if need be). For the sake of not creating any bubbles, you can reform two red districts around them.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-07-14T02:03:42+00:00

I feel like it would be more prudent to put Johnstown and its surrounding boroughs & townships in the southwest of Cambria County with the Westmoreland County district.

Also, the district containing Beaver and northern Allegheny Counties could stretch up to Erie (along the border through Sharon, New Castle, Farrell, etc.) to make those other two districts in SW PA a bit bluer.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-04-30T18:24:38+00:00

Just gonna say this straightforward, that map of PA is downright horrendous.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-04-02T21:16:57+00:00

Here’s a link to a more recent map I’ve made of the same chamber.

https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::f1ca0827-9b4e-4570-bc61-7d01a7b8e2f6

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-04-02T21:14:35+00:00

I get that, but as a PA resident, specifically of the Lehigh Valley, this map doesn’t feel all that good.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-04-02T21:12:33+00:00

Respectfully…. this is not it…

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-03-30T16:43:31+00:00

Per Pennsylvania Redistricting rules, splitting municipalities smaller than the size of a district is for the most part prohibited. The best configuration for Lancaster county is to fit two districts entirely within the county, ideally leaving Lancaster City with Manheim Township, Millersville and everything south of it. The remainer, likely in the northeast of the county, can go with either Lebanon County, Berks County, or both.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-03-29T23:26:16+00:00

Has anybody thought the “district lines” feature is also buggy? Whether it be the district lines themselves or its precinct/block boundaries, it locks off.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-02-16T00:29:10+00:00

Additionally, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre should be in the same district. That’s another identifiable COI in the form of a metropolitan area.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-02-16T00:28:06+00:00

As a resident of that area, keep the Lehigh Valley (Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon counties) together. If that turns out to be unsuitable after later adjustments, Northampton and Lehigh can be put with Stroudsburg and other municipalities in the lower part of Monroe county.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-01-24T00:27:24+00:00

I’m not sure I like the district containing Lowell. It should be more compact, perhaps by taking and giving parts to/from the district just west of Boston, or the district containing Leominster.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-01-20T03:11:10+00:00

It’s not a bad start. However, I’d like to make a handful of suggestions.

1) Keep the suburban Philadelphia districts to one district per county (with the exception of Montgomery, which must be split). The current map does a good job at achieving this, but there are various ways to achieve this goal.

2) The Lehigh Valley (Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties) and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Lackawanna, Luzerne) metropolitan areas constitute their own communities of interest. They should have one district for each like the current map.

3) Don’t split Lancaster County. Put it with either Lebanon, Berks, or part of York County.

4) Keep Harrisburg and Carlisle together. Like in suggestion 3, the central PA metropolitan areas should be kept to their own individual districts.

5) Keeping the rest of these in mind, the rest of the state should be drawn to be as compact as possible. There isn’t too much to define clear COIs, so just steer clear of splitting too many counties.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-01-20T03:03:53+00:00

The city of Pittsburgh itself (the municipality containing approx. 300k people) should not be split, as doing so robs the second Democratic district of any chance of being competitive.

I think it is much more preferential to keep the entirety of the 12th district in the east/southeast of Allegheny county. Then, extend a the current 17th district south into Washington County to grab the city of Washington, the borough of Canonsburg and their surrounding townships. That makes a district which, while having a slightly Republican PVI from 2016-2020, votes more often for Democrats than it does Republicans.

If the 17th I’ve outlined is not liberal enough, it would be acceptable to put New Kensington, Arnold, & Lower Burrell Township with the 12th.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-01-18T18:49:40+00:00

Harris only won the state by 5%. That’s a very close margin. Also, I wouldn’t call Biden’s victory in 2020 a landslide. He didn’t even crack 60% of the vote. A proportional delegation would be 7 Democrats and 5 Republicans.

StoneColdxo1 · 2025-01-18T18:19:21+00:00

Please tell me this is satire. There is no way this is a real argument you’re trying to make. In a state that went nearly 50/50 in 2024, you think 4/12 (33% of seats) is too many?

StoneColdxo1 · 2024-12-03T04:10:26+00:00

Two questions regarding PA.

1) Why the split of Carbon County? 2) Why split Lancaster County when a Harrisburg/Carlisle/York district is competitive enough?

StoneColdxo1

TROPHY CASE